Photo Identification Systems & Accessories

In America, the #1 reason most people leave their jobs is because they don’t feel appreciated. With Employee Appreciation Day coming up this Friday the 6th, there’s still time to plan something fun that will let your employees know you appreciate them.

• Use a badge printer to create incentive cards that you can reward your employees with. Some examples would be a card that says “Leave 30 Minutes Early on the Day of your Choosing,” “One Free Casual Day,” etc.
• Create a safety awareness program by rewarding all employees who wear their badges daily.
• Design a custom lanyard that says, “We appreciate you.” or “My Boss Thinks I’m Extra Awesome.”
• Small companies can reprint employee badges with fun new titles for the day or week “Purveyor of Potlucks,” “Queen of Sales,” “Master of getting things done!” “Ms. Indispensable,” “Chief FUN Officer,” etc.
• Host a “security” meeting to remind employees why proper identification is critical to your business’s overall success. All employees use their name badge to enter into a drawing for a prize.

Think of recognition programs as an investment, not an expense. With even a little bit of recognition, employee engagement has been shown to increase by 60%!

Of course, our parent company, Baudville features a wide variety of gifts perfect for celebrations like Employee Appreciation Day! And there’s still some time to show the love to your team this week. Have fun!

ID badges in the workplace are often primarily seen as informational, a security tool to improve employee and visitor safety. Many companies often overlook the effective company branding that a great ID badge offers.

Company branding is a quick and effective way of letting both prospective and current customers know what your company is all about, adding personal value to your company. Branding is essential to showing what your company does and the benefits customers will receive that set you apart from the competition.

To effectively utilize your team ID badges as a marketing opportunity, design attractive, full-color badges – prominently display your company name, logo and brand colors so they are easily noticed by customers. Having an appealing, memorable ID badge is a great way to promote your brand to both current and potential customers.

Employees displaying badges with the company name and logo will ensure it is continuously seen by customers. The more customers notice your ID badges, the more effective your branding efforts will be, allowing customers to more easily recall your company in the future, and ideally, they’ll continue to do business with you.

You can also give your team options to choose how to wear their badge so they are comfortable and the badges don’t distract them from their daily tasks. IDville has several badge-wear options ranging from clip attachments to customizable lanyards to retractable badge reels along with many other possibilities to choose from. Many of IDville’s accessories are customizable so you can add your logo or company name, again increasing customer awareness of your brand.

To add a personal touch to your ID badges and maximize the branding opportunity they provide, add your own special message – a mission statement, company motto or inspirational message that conveys brand beliefs, showing customers a little extra tidbit about your company. Creating and presenting a brand identity that consumers can identify with will ultimately build their trust and loyalty to your company.

IDville offers both single- and dual-sided ID card printer systems for everything you decide to include on your company badges. Whether the main goal for an ID badge policy is to easily identify team members or keep everyone safe, why not create an eye-catching branding piece at the same time?

If you’re anything like me, you don’t necessarily look forward to having your picture taken, especially for things like the dreaded driver’s license photo. Right up there with that (or possibly worse) is a picture for an ID badge. Think about it – your driver’s license stays in your wallet, tucked away from the eyes of your friends and coworkers. On the other hand, many companies require that team members display their ID badge, for all eyes to see!

There are a few simple things to keep in mind that will make having a photo taken for an ID badge as painless as possible. Given that fellow team members, customers and other company partners will be seeing the photo on your ID badge on a regular basis, you’ll want to make sure to looking your best in that photo.

Below is some advice for you and your ID badge “photographer” that will help you to put your best foot forward in your ID badge photo.

For the Subject:

Make sure to wear a flattering top that will look great in the photo. Avoid bright colors, big patterns and anything taupe, bright white or nude – these selections may wash you out or be distracting in a photo, especially when taken under fluorescent lights. I suggest sticking to darker colors (black, navy or dark blues and greens) or softer tones (soft whites, blues, greens, purples, etc.).

A large part of looking your best for your photo is ensuring that your hair is neatly styled and away from your face.

You may want to make sure no one is watching you, but be sure to practice your smile in the mirror. You’ll want your smile to be natural and relaxed – don’t smile too big or too small. If you decide you don’t want to smile at least relax your face to avoid looking tense or angry.

This seems like a no-brainer, but make sure to look at the camera. You’d be surprised how many ID photos are taken with the subject looking to the side or above the camera.

Relax yourself – especially your face – when “posing” for your photo.

For the Photographer:

Look for a place that has good lighting to take your team’s ID badge photos. The photo subject’s face should be seen clearly and any lights you use should be at least 3 feet away from the subject. This way the light isn’t in the picture and doesn’t cast a shadow or cause the subject to squint.

A plain background, such as the one provided with our ID Maker Systems, is always best for any ID badge photos. A wall that’s painted in a neutral tone or a backdrop in white, beige or light blue will result in the best photos. Your subject should then stand roughly one foot in front of the wall/backdrop to avoid shadows.

Talking to your subjects before taking the photos will help them relax, resulting in a better ID badge photo.

Turning on autofocus and auto flash in your camera settings will help you take the best possible photos of each team member with ease.

Consider investing in a tripod to steady the camera – keeping it still and level while taking ID badge photos.

Adjust camera height and angle as necessary so that just the subject’s head and shoulders are framed in the photo.

If you don’t like the photo you take, the team member probably won’t either. Review each photo after it’s taken so you’ll know before printing the ID badge if you should take another.

IDville offers full ID Card Systems, which include an ID card printer and software, a USB web cam and a white backdrop along with all of the other necessary supplies so you’ll be up and running ready to take those great ID badge photos in just 15 minutes!

Hopefully these tips and tricks will put you at ease when getting ready for an ID badge photo. For some great ID badge design ideas visit our Sample ID Card Library to get your creative juices flowing. Who knows, you might even end up liking your photo!

After being back for a week we are finally caught up from all of the excitement that the 2013 Society for Human Resources Management Annual Conference brings every year and what a success it was! It was a packed show with over 14,000 attendees and 700 exhibitors. Identification Expert, David, commented that “the exhibit hall was packed! It was great seeing so many vendors from around the country giving away awesome gifts while pitching their products and services. It was impressive!” It was a very successful third year attending this conference.

IDville participated as an exhibit sponsor June 16-18 in Chicago at the McCormick Place Convention Center. We were able to speak with over 1,300 HR professionals about the importance of photo identification and security in the workplace.

As a new addition to the IDville team, it was great to meet new people and see their excitement towards implementing and/or updating their current photo identification system. It seemed as though many of the HR professionals I chatted with were either frustrated with their outdated ID system or their current system was simply too complicated. By having our ID Maker Systems on hand we were able to perform live demos to show how easy it is to design and print IDs from your desktop.

Part of the fun was seeing the eagerness of the attendees to check out our new bling lanyards and sign up for our raffle prize! We raffled of a $200 Visa gift card. Congratulations to Alexandra from Texas. She was our lucky winner. Enjoy! Be sure to “like” our Facebook Fan Page to receive exclusive monthly discounts and see photos of all our tradeshow travels.

With a new year comes many new opportunities! As you look back on 2012, it’s apparent that it’s never been more important to ensure that you have visitor management and photo identification processes in place. As you start off 2013, it’s a good idea to evaluate your current plans and determine what you need to do to make improvements. If you don’t currently have any processes in place, now is a great time to consider doing so!

If you don’t currently print ID cards onsite at your office, hearing “I’ve lost my ID card” from your employees is probably a nightmare. When employees lose an ID card that means you have to not only wait days or potentially weeks to receive the ID, it also means that you have to reach to your outside vendor and send out information for the new ID. This can be a cumbersome process but can easily be avoided with an onsite ID card system.

The ID Maker suite is an ID card system packaged with all of the components you need to be up and running and printing IDs within 15 minutes. With new and improved software and capabilities, it’s easier than ever to design professional IDs from your own desktop. You no longer need to wait days or weeks to receive your employee IDs!

Find out which system is right for your organization by requesting our free system selection guide. It contains detailed information about each system and the software it comes with.

Click here to read more of our October IDentify Newsletter. Questions? Comments? Feel free to post them here or call one of our customer service reps at 1.866.498.4557.

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David is an IDville Identification Specialist with over seven years product and sales experience. Around IDville, David is known for his new product ideas, sports knowledge, and experience as a catalog model (you may have seen him in a previous IDville catalog!).